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August 18, 2008

A few days ago we were treated to a downpour of Olympic proportions. I had the good fortune of being caught out in this monsoon on the wrong side of the Olympic Green, with no ticket to cross it, no umbrella, no raincoat and not a cab in sight.

I was at the Green to pick up Lenovo tshirts so I could head to the Athletes' Village and help set up new athlete bloggers for Lenovo's Voices of the Olympic Games project. Since I could not get on the Green, and the person I was picking them up from could not leave, we were going to do a quick through the fence hand off. Needing to get across the very large green to be in position, I ran over to a volunteer booth where there were 15 Chinese volunteers huddled together wearing ponchos, and practicing saying "Would you like a poncho?" The word poncho was a tough one, so we practiced it a few times as a group - which might have been the only thing that could have made me laugh at that moment.

Here is a video of how I got across the Olympic Green with no ticket. Watch and learn kiddies.

Sadly, I accidentally deleted the dramatic conclusion to this trek, which saw Harry and I traipse across the Green, us exchanging pins after he states, "I hope we can be friends", and me waiting in line for a taxi outside the IBC. It actually wasn't that sweet - just more water logged Catch Up Lady!

A few days ago I got to go behind athlete lines in the Athletes' Village with one of our Lenovo Voices of the Olympic Games bloggers. One of our stops was the Cafeteria. Imagine your college dining hall times one hundred and that's what you got. Mediocre food (based on my experience and testimonials), and one incredibly popular McDonald's.

Of course I sought out the ketchup in the Village to make sure it was up to snuff. While it wasn't Heinz it was there - along with condiments from around the world. Kind of cool to see that the Olympics support all types of condiment cravings.

The other day I was lucky enough to get a tour of the Athletes' Village with one of our Lenovo Voices of the Olympic Games bloggers, Mannie Heymans and his mechanic Patrick. This is "sort of a big deal" as the only way you can get into the Residential Athletes' Village is if you are accompanied by an athlete.

One of the best "insider" stories that came out of the afternoon was the inside scoop on the collapsible bikes that all the athletes' are riding. I'm not going to spoil it - so you'll have to watch the video below to find out why all the athletes are riding bikes in the Village, and which country started the revolution. Viva la bike!

Friday I had the privilege to see Michael Phelps win his 6th gold medal of the Beijing Games. It was my first opportunity to get inside the Water Cube - you can check out the video below that I made as I walked in for the first time.

Seeing Phelps win the 200m IM was pretty surreal. Without the benefit of Rowdy Gaines' commentary, it really is just a quick swim - and it's over before you know it. I was looking forward to this event for days and then after like, 120 seconds it was done! Our seats were great - about 20 rows up right above the side of the pool where the swimmers finished. At the event we sat behind a row of families who were at the Olympics for a week with Make a Wish Foundation. The "wish" that all of these kids had was to attend the Olympics in Beijing. I caught up with Ryan from Fort Meyers:

We talked a lot with Ryan and his family about all of the great events they were attending, the side trips that were organized for them, and the hospitality and attention they were shown by all of the Olympic sponsors that work together to make their week special.

The Olympics, especially in America, have a real tendency to get commercialized. You see someone like Phelps winning medal and after medal, or the Men's basketball team guarantying gold - and while it's an amazing sporting feat - there is a certain amount of celebrity, hype and cash around the Games. Being at the Olympics myself and then talking to some of these kids from Make a Wish really reinforced something you can lose sight of when you're on your couch at home screaming for more gold medals - the spirit of the Games.

Now some of you might stop reading right now as we cue the cheesy music - but it's really true. The Olympics is about the athletes - ALL of them. From the rock stars, to the Cinderella stories like Abhinav Bindra who won India's first individal gold ever, to the javelin thrower I met from Seychelles, to my new friend Mannie a cyclist from Namibia. It's also about the fans. The people that come to the Olympics from all over the world to see the finest athletes compete, make new friends from far off places, and become a part of something that is bigger, older and more enduring than all of us. And no matter how you take part in it - from home, from the stands, or on the Olympic stage - it's something special.

We are joined by three athlete bloggers from the Voices site - Seth Kelsey (USA, Fencing), Carissa Gump (USA, Weightlifting) and Peter Lopez (Peru, Taekwondo). You can check out their blogs En Garde Beijing, Carissa Gump, and Camino a la Gloria respectively.

David Churbuck, LenovoLenovo's Olympic sponsorship has highlighted the company as the premier technology partner for the Games. To amplify their sponsorship Lenovo initiated the Voices program with the athletes themselves in order to help them share their real stories and connect with their friends, family and fans. So far the Voices site has shared over 1,374 athlete blog posts from 100 athletes representing 25 countries and 27 sports. Like the Games of 1960 when TV made its debut, the technology at these Games has revolutionized the way that athletes can connect with the world.

Seth KelseyOn Competing: Seth has won three World Cups, but is nervous before all his compeitions so he started down 3 - 0 in Beijing. Then he calmed down and "did his counter attacks"but "unfortunately it wasn't enough that day" and he lost his bout. Seth is a Captain in the Air Force, and is training as part of the military's World Class Athlete Program which allows Olympic caliber athletes to spend two years training before beginning active duty. The Air Force helps defray costs - as you can spend more than$30,000 in travel alone. Seth says he'd have a hard time fencing without their support.

On Blogging: Seth says it's hard to put his Olympic experience into words, but jokes that he "already has on his blog!" Through his blog he has shared his inner thoughts on competitions, which for an individual sport like fencing can really provide a deep look at his experience. He's also been sharing training tips to help younger fencers, as he's really committed to helping the USA develop as a fencing force. Carissa GumpOn Competing: Carissa came in 14th in the 63kg event. She just missed setting a new US record at the Games (though she notes the record that she would have broken is actually her own!) She says not breaking the record is the difference between a "good and great" Olympic experience. She started weightlifting at age 10, and has lived at the US Training Center in Colorado for the last 7 years.

On Blogging: Carissa says that she "Can't believe I haven't done it [blogging] sooner!" The best part of blogging is that she has discovered a support network of fans and old friends that she didn't even know existed. Her entire network - and their friends and families are all reading her blog, and she was surprised by how many people hav found it interesting. Carissa was recently featured as one of Blogger's Top 10 Blogs of the Day,which generated many comments from people around the world who were interested in her story and experience. Carissa enjoys this because it shows that, "Even people who dont know you feel like they have a connection with you" and that it's interesting that fans want to see the Games through the eyes of athletes. You never know who is reading your blog, she recently found out that her high school English teacher is following her and immediately thought, "Oh my god, I have to start spell checking now."

Peter LopezOn Competing: Peter competes on Thursday and says, "I've been waiting my whole life for this moment."

On Blogging: Peter is sharing his thoughts on eating, streching, and visualizing compeition and he thinks it's great that the fans are living through him. He finds his posts on competition and preparation generate a lot of comments. Peter's fans are also eager to see as many pictures as possible of the ceremonies, Olympic events and Athletes' Village. The media in Peru has discovered his blog and publicized the link - which has attracted a lot of Peruvians to his site. As an athlete who was raised and trains in the US, getting the support of the Pervian community around the world has been "what he needed."

Difference Between Use of Technology in Athens and BeijingSeth: In Athens it was all about email and phone calls. Blogs has allowed him to connect with his fans, and the media. All reporters that interview him have mentioned they read his blog and as a result they are asking better questions. London should be even more integrated.

On Political Statements at the GameCarissa: "Peter wants to fight, Seth wants to fence and I want to lift. Sport doesn't have anything to do with politics and our focus here is on sports."

Will Blogging Replace Sports Journalism?Carissa: "You need someone to report from the outside, we provide the personal touch."Seth: "Well I'm not prepared to put in that sort of time!"Does Blogging Help You Correct Misinformation That's Reported?Seth: "Well I never misreport my own rank!" Seth got "up the creek" at the hands of the mainstream media recently when they erroneously reported that he was engaged - and all of his friends and family called to congratulate him.

Technology has definitely changed the way that atheltes share their Olympic experience for the better. The internet and social media has allowed atheltes, coach, attendees, sponsors and volunteers to share their Olympic experience with the world in an unprecendented way. For a social media loving Super Fan like me that is really a dream come true, and I can't wait to see what happens next.

Today was definitely a huge day in my Super Fan career. It was my first day out on the Olympic Green (you need a ticket or credentials to enter the area), AND I got to go to my second Olympic event in which the USA's Men's Gymnastics Team won a bronze medal in the Team Final.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was just unreal - as the crowd was probably 90% Chinese nationals there to support their gold medal favorite team. You would have thought they were cheering at a football game based on their decibel level, and any "U-S-A" cheer we started was drowned out in about two seconds flat. Here are some amazing shots of the crowd:

The USA was one of the three teams competing hard for the bronze medal - and they earned it with some truly amazing performances. Having watched gymnastics for years on TV I can honestly say that NOTHING compares to seeing it person. The athleticism and talent required to pull this off is just amazing. The fact that team USA had no past Olympians competing, and had pulled in two alternates last minute as the Hamm brother's dropped out, makes the win all the more meaningful. (Unfortunately Lenovo Voices of the Olympic Games blogger Dave Durante (and alternate) did not end up competing - but his blog should have some great insight into the win in the next few days!)

On my way out of the event, I ran into a fellow Olympic Super Fan at the Bird's Nest. She and her father had come to Beijing from Alabama just to see gymnastics events. We're loud and proud about Team USA's third place finish. All in all an epic day at the Olympics. Friday I'll be at the Water Cube to see Michael Phelps (hopefully) go for his 6th of 8 gold medals.

Near the top of the list of social media questions I get on a regular basis is, "Why would anyone use Twitter!?" (This comes right after "How do you even find time to blog?!", which Ian Sohn already answered.)
I believe the Olympics have provided the perfect opportunity to convert non-believers to Twitter, as the platform has really exploded internationally around the Games - highlighting several of the most popular uses for the site in a way that is easy for the general, non-geeked out public to understand.

Here are three ways that Twitter has been used effectively around the Games:

Finding Like Minded People: Using popular Twitter search engines, it's fast and easy to search for "hashtags" which people include in tweets on various subjects and events of interest so that others can quickly connect with them. The hashtag #080808 was created for the Olympic Games. Click here to see tweets from individuals talking about all aspects of the Games using the #080808 hashtag. DO: Search for topics of interest to you, and start following new people! Try finding people using Twellow, the Twitter yellow pages.

Organizing "Tweet Ups": Offline meet ups of online networks were made popular long ago by sites like MeetUp.com, where you can search for real world meetings of every kind (knitters, euchre players, sports fans, etc.) in your area. Twitter helps quickly faciliate similar meetings, or Tweet Ups, among networks of Twitterers. We recently used Twitter to organize a Blogger Meet Up, which was attended by several Beijing area bloggers, bloggers in town for the Games, and Namibian flag bearer and Voices of the Olympic Games blogger, Mannie Heymans. DO: Start keeping an eye out for Tweet Ups in your area and expand take your online personal or professional network offline.

Getting On The Ground Reports From Events You Can't Attend: From BlogHer conferences, to Auto Shows, to Mac World, to the Olympics, Twitter makes it easy to get real time updates about events that you can't attend yourself. For instance by following @lenovo2008 you can get the play by plays from the Lenovo team on the ground at the Games as we attend sporting events, visit Olympic venues, and highlight the best Olympic blog posts. DO: Next time you can't make it to a conference, check out Twitter - odds are you can get all the best stats in real time from attendees live tweeting the event.

It's clear to see how these three situations I've outlined apply to almost any topic of interest or business area that's out there. Twitter, and other microblogging platforms like Plurk, are redefining the way that people communicate with each other around their lives, brands they use, events they attend and things they care about. If you or your client is not listening you should be, and if you're not participating yet you should seriously think about it.

This post was originally created for the Ogilvy PR 360 Digital Influence blog.

UK Olympic fencing hopefuls for London 2012 have to fight the masses at McDonald's just like us! (Seriously this was like the most stressful eating experience of my life. The hardest I've ever had to work for not that great food.)